Colorado Law and Legal Research

Once researchers have located a statute, they must make sure that the statute is up to date. If the researcher has located the statute in the free online version or on Westlaw, it should be current as the online versions are updated regularly.

However, if the researcher has located the statute in one of the print versions, the researcher will need to consult the pamphlets used to update the print sets:

The Red Book is produced at the end of each legislative session and comprises tables that list changes to the statutes. This should be used to update statutes located in the official print version. Researchers can look up the relevant section in the table to see if it has been affected by a recently passed law and can read the new law if the section has been affected. The Red Book is available both in the library (1987-present) and on the Colorado General Assembly's website (2004-present).

West's Colorado Revised Statutes Annotated are updated by pamphlets called pocket parts in the back of each volume. West also publishes a biweekly legislative service and a semiannual interim annotation service to update statutes and annotations. To update sections located in West's print version, researchers should first look up the section in the pocket part at the back of the book and then look up the section in the table of the most recent legislative service pamphlet to see if a recent law has changed the section. Researchers can then check the interim annotation service to see if there are any recent court opinions regarding that section.